By fostering trust, apology can close gap

THE apology to indigenous Australians will make a real
difference in closing the gulf in health and education, experts
believe. But meeting the Government's ambitious targets to beat
indigenous disadvantage will require a huge expansion in
resources.

Professor George Rubin, a public health expert with the Royal
Australasian College of Physicians, said experience, particularly
in Canada, had shown that an apology backed by concerted campaigns
against ill-health and disadvantage could yield rapid improvements
within 10-20 years.

"Now we have a prime minister committed to make this happen, we
can be optimistic," he said. "We know from indigenous populations
overseas you can achieve dramatic results in a relatively short
time."

Professor Rubin said the apology fostered the trust and
collaboration required between the people and health professionals
and teachers to beat disease and disadvantage.

The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has promised to close the
17-year gap in life expectancy between indigenous and other
Australians within a generation, to halve the two to three times
higher mortality rates for under five within a decade and also to
halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy standards within a
decade.

Professor Rubin said the lifespan gap could be closed quickly by
focusing on reducing the higher incidence of disease and death
among babies and young people.

Chris Sarra, an indigenous education leader, said the apology
made "a profound difference". It would "give people confidence that
here is a government that is prepared to do things with Aboriginal
communities rather than to Aboriginal communities", he said.

Dr Sarra, the head of the Indigenous Education Leadership
Institute at the Queensland University of Technology, said his own
experience as a school principal had shown it was possible to
reduce absenteeism by more than 90 per cent by lifting expectations
of the students and the community.

The chief executive of the Australian Council for Educational
Research, Geoff Masters, said the goal to lift poor literacy and
numeracy levels was "a big challenge - but I don't think it is
impossible".

Achieving better education would require a substantial
commitment in improving the quality of teachers in indigenous
communities and identifying children with learning problems at the
earliest stage.

This would require higher incentives to attract teachers to
remote communities and also would need more regular monitoring of
students' performance, Professor Masters said.

Dr Bill Glasson, the medical leader of the NT intervention, said
the targets were "absolutely possible" but experience with the
intervention so far had highlighted the need for collaboration on
many fronts to deal with violence and alcohol abuse and improve
schooling, housing, sanitation and fresh food supply.

Dr Glasson estimated 30 more doctors, including specialists, and
about 100 nurses were required for the NT operation. "To make it
happen we need to get the people on the ground, to identify the
community leaders. It will only work if we get the full package
together."